Getting set to watch a number of French films over the next few months,I decided to ask fellow IMDbers about what their top movies from France are. Talking to a fellow IMDber,I found out about a title from auteur film maker Henri-Georges Clouzot which gets regularly overlooked,which led to me getting ready to go spying with Clouzot.
The plot:
Struggling to cover the running costs of his mental hospital, psychiatrist Dr Malik is taken aback when a strange called Howard offers Malik a million francs. Finding a quiet corner of the bar,Howard reveals that he is a secret agent,and that he wants to pay Malik,so that a mysterious person called Alex can stay as a patient.In desperate need of cash,Malik accepts the offer.
Before he leaves,Howard tells Malik that he should get ready for run ins with a number of strangers,some of whom are on Howard's side,and others who want to get their hands on Alex.Hitting a brick wall in his attempts to get more info from Howard,Malik goes back to the hospital.Returning to the hospital,Malik finds that his old staff have been replaced with a new gang,who are keen to learn about where Alex is.
View on the film:
Finding spies in every corner,co-writer/(along with Jérôme Géronimi) director Henri-Georges Clouzot & cinematographer Christian Matras brilliantly find confined spaces by every hospital bed,with Clouzot and Matras stylishly cornering Malik and allowing the smell of Film Noir unease to steam across the screen.Placing Malik in a headlock of paranoia,Clouzot superbly gives the spy activities a depth of field by making even the smallest glance from someone in the background be a thread of mistrust which surrounds Malik.
Spied from the novel by Egon Hostovsky,the screenplay by Clouzot & Géronimi dices the Film Noir espionage with quirky Comedy peeling away the identify of each spy,until it corkscrews into their mysterious shadows.Keeping Malik away from knowing the full deal of everything Alex and Howard are involved in,the writers brilliantly stoke Malik's Film Noir anxiety with deliciously shady characters from a battle axe agent to a businessman who put his hands too close to the flames.Ending on a chillingly open note,the writers water down some of the impact by making the various spy double crossings too tangled,that causes Malik's doubts to occasionally be put on the side-lines.
Leaving Malik in a daze,Paul Carpenter gives a whip-smart performance as fast talking Howard,whilst Peter Ustinov gives a great,playful performance as Michel Kiminsky.Joined by a delicate Véra Clouzot as patient Lucie, Gérard Séty gives an excellent performance as Malik,whose frustrations of being completely out of the comfort zone Séty grinds to the brittle Film Noir bones,as the spies spy on the spy.
The plot:
Struggling to cover the running costs of his mental hospital, psychiatrist Dr Malik is taken aback when a strange called Howard offers Malik a million francs. Finding a quiet corner of the bar,Howard reveals that he is a secret agent,and that he wants to pay Malik,so that a mysterious person called Alex can stay as a patient.In desperate need of cash,Malik accepts the offer.
Before he leaves,Howard tells Malik that he should get ready for run ins with a number of strangers,some of whom are on Howard's side,and others who want to get their hands on Alex.Hitting a brick wall in his attempts to get more info from Howard,Malik goes back to the hospital.Returning to the hospital,Malik finds that his old staff have been replaced with a new gang,who are keen to learn about where Alex is.
View on the film:
Finding spies in every corner,co-writer/(along with Jérôme Géronimi) director Henri-Georges Clouzot & cinematographer Christian Matras brilliantly find confined spaces by every hospital bed,with Clouzot and Matras stylishly cornering Malik and allowing the smell of Film Noir unease to steam across the screen.Placing Malik in a headlock of paranoia,Clouzot superbly gives the spy activities a depth of field by making even the smallest glance from someone in the background be a thread of mistrust which surrounds Malik.
Spied from the novel by Egon Hostovsky,the screenplay by Clouzot & Géronimi dices the Film Noir espionage with quirky Comedy peeling away the identify of each spy,until it corkscrews into their mysterious shadows.Keeping Malik away from knowing the full deal of everything Alex and Howard are involved in,the writers brilliantly stoke Malik's Film Noir anxiety with deliciously shady characters from a battle axe agent to a businessman who put his hands too close to the flames.Ending on a chillingly open note,the writers water down some of the impact by making the various spy double crossings too tangled,that causes Malik's doubts to occasionally be put on the side-lines.
Leaving Malik in a daze,Paul Carpenter gives a whip-smart performance as fast talking Howard,whilst Peter Ustinov gives a great,playful performance as Michel Kiminsky.Joined by a delicate Véra Clouzot as patient Lucie, Gérard Séty gives an excellent performance as Malik,whose frustrations of being completely out of the comfort zone Séty grinds to the brittle Film Noir bones,as the spies spy on the spy.